When I initially received the package, I wasn't all that sure what this thing exactly does. Actually, I have never heard of a thing like this before. But simply put, this is a device that receives a TV-signal (PAL I can imagine that some of you already is protesting, claiming that I'm talking about a TV-card.
Well, this is far from a TV-card, even though the functions are very similar. First off, it's an external device, secondly it is totally independent of a computer - if you so desire. Confused yet?
Well, let's look at the specifications and then try to figure things out
.. S-video in, video in, audio-r in, audio-l in antenna, tv out, stereo out, VGA out, PC audio in, VGA in So, I took the stuff out from the box and started eagerly putting things together.
Frankly put, I have to admit that I was quite lost with all the ports and wires included. This made me a bit ashamed, as I'm one things, and have probably already broken something from assembling it wrong..
So, I humbly searched for the finnish segment in the manual, and after failing to find one was left with the UK version. After some shrugs and winces, I got the wires put together in the right ports, the right way. It would not have been all that difficult, if I had turned to the manual from the start.
It's not all that easy being male. Anyways, things assembled, I started working the channels. The available.
I noticed that the sound rattled at some frequencies, but it goes through the device). This, however, leads to the fact that you have sound all that much. Fortunately, I didn't notice any noise yet, but enough of that.
Besides some brightness and contrast adjustments, the Without further ado, with tension I turned my computer on. With some mild astonishment, I noticed that the normal computer view was working just fine and was visible even though Combi was turned off. The sounds, on the other hand, don't work with powers off, which I find as a mild miss, but it's not all that a big of a problem.
I noticed some possible softening and mild blur of the image in my Sony 17" Trinitron screen, but this doesn't worry me that much, because I replugged Combi to my tertiary monitory quickly afterwards, which rarely is used in precision-requiring visualizations for my music, I have been using the POP view for the most part. POP (Picture On Picture) is a function where the computer screen is in the background, and the TV screen is rendered on top of it. There's three different sizes for this window, and it can be moved around on the screen.
Also, when using POP, you can choose your sound source between the The three sizes of the POP window are somewhat oddly minimized. Especially subtitles are shown as obscure lumps of pixels. But anyhow, who says you have to watch the screen continuously in the window.
Just keep the window visible at all times, and once you note something interesting, you can turn POP off and press the source-button, so you get a fullscreen TV-screen, ignoring the PC-source entierly. The menus are more elaborate in this mode also. The device itself has a small selection of buttons, but they're ample enough to access all the features you actually need.
The remote control has some additional buttons, but they're more like shortcuts to features behind the menus, or they display information on-screen. The usage of the remote control was left as a bit of a mystery for myself, atleast, because I have the Combi system about 20cm from my keyboard, so it's no problem for me to use the buttons on the box, thus leaving the remote useless. Afterall, a 17" screen is nothing one would want to view from a distance, reach - the wires don't reach everywhere.
Besides all this, the remote it was too light, so I was worried I might fumble with it, and Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. Twice during the test period, for some reason, my monitor wasn't in PC usage at all. The only thing that fixed it was a reboot of the computer.
I'm guessing that the fault lies in the fact A second miss is the absense of TeleText. All modern TVs have it, and grown used to. Of course, I do have a program installed showing all the incoming TV-programs, but sometimes I might want to read something else, too, from there.
As a small last nag, I might mention that it's quite a change listening to CD-quality music streaming from the speakers, and then suddenly witching to a TV-stream. The sound seems to rattlie and be filled with static. This, however, is in no way the fault of Combi, but it's just a It's been three weeks, and I have used the device with a happy mind.
It's not a miracle we're talking about, but it's no waste of metal and plastics either. The system specifications promise one TV-tuner which uses your PC-monitor in advantage, and that it does with success. Naturally, this is much cheaper than a brand new TV, and you can get much out of the Combi TV-PC POP View if you are an owner of a computer, especially if you are using a multimonitor system.
Not to speak of if you have a computer monitor gathering dust in a dark corner somewhere. But, if you own a TV already, you might want to think twice before buying this device.
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